The Junk Drawer
by wintergreen825
Summary: This is a collection, similar to my Round File, only for the MCU instead of Harry Potter. It's a bunch of oneshots that aren't enough to stand on their own or that I don't plan on continuing. As such, it is perpetually "complete" despite being added to occasionally.
1. Eyes Skyward

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

**Author's Note:** And I have no idea how to tag this, but I feel I should warn ya that Tony is 17yo in this and talking about past sexual partners as well as offering sex to someone he had just met.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Misunderstood; Metahuman MC; Hydra MC; Chilled Iron Bribery (Y); Mastermind MC; Hitter MC; Hacker MC; Winter Wonderland; Seeds; Shipmas; Tissue Warning; Interesting Times; New Fandom Smell [Avengers]; Team Logic; Marvelous Cinema; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A [Love] (Y); Themes & Things B [Protection] (Y); Feeling So Logical []; Neurodivergent; Quiet Time; Flags & Ribbons; Letter of the Day; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Two Cakes!  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Assignment 02  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Romance Awareness [D13] (Soulmate is only person who can't hurt you) (Hurt/Comfort); Insane Prompt Challenge [651] (Oscar Wilde quotation); 365 [75] (Tongue); Scavenger Hunt [63] (Write a Winter themed fic.); Galleon Club (Hurt/Comfort)  
**Space Address (Prompt): **[1E] (Bundle)**  
Representation(s):** Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes; Autistic Tony Stark  
**Bonus Challenges: **Lyre Liar; Rock of Ages; Grease Monkey; Abandoned Ship; Second Verse (Lovely Coconuts; For the Vine; Lock & Key; Unwanted Advice; Middle Name; Zucchini Bread; Persistence Still); Chorus (Unicorn; Larger than Life; Eternal Boredom; Tomorrow's Shade; Mouth of Babes; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Fizzy Lemonade; Wabi Sabi; Pear-Shaped)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); FR (Evolution); HoSE (Caprice)  
**Word Count:** 1648

(^^)  
**Eyes Skyward**  
(^^)

Tony stared into the night sky. He was leaning against the base of the monument he had installed over his mother's grave. The angel with her face had its wings half-curled around itself and the child it was holding. He had explained it to the press as symbolic of how Maria had helped so many children through her foundations, how she had protected them from the violence of street life. The Maria Stark Foundation had certainly done that and with Maria Stark at its helm, the Foundation had been a powerful force for good.

No one had to know that it had been the child closest to Maria that had needed the most protection.

_Never let them see your weaknesses_.

_Starks are made of iron_.

This far from the city, the sky was filled with stars. Even the cold bite to the air had nothing on the crystalline iciness of the glittering stars. Tony loved their beauty, but still he missed the moon. Maybe it was crazy, but the moon was an old friend. More often than not, Tony found himself talking to it just the same as anyone would talk to a flesh and blood companion. That was not unusual for him, though, because he talked to his bots like they were people, too.

"You never met the bots," Tony said suddenly. He didn't know if he was addressing the stars, the absent moon, or the specter of his mother. "Howard did, when they did the write up on Comdex earlier this year. I took the bots there. They needed to know there's more to the world than my 'shop. I brought them home when I graduated, but that last week was rather busy for you. December always is. So, yeah, you didn't meet what's likely to be your only grandkids."

The crunch of ice breaking nearby drew Tony back to the present. Certain that it was just his current bodyguard—Greg, he thought this month's model was called—Tony didn't bother to drop his gaze from the sky immediately. It could be a journalist though, and the idea of having his grief plastered across yet another tabloid was enough to draw his gaze away from the universe that refused to swallow him whole as it ought to.

His eyes landed on the man standing in the shadow of the crypt directly across from Maria's monument. Tony had been kidnapped enough times to recognize someone sent to kill him. He was the heir to the greatest iron monger in the last century and a genius in his own right. Even with a bodyguard, kidnapping and assassination attempts were surprisingly common. Maybe Tony should have felt more alarmed at the sight of yet another one, but instead, he just felt resigned. If this was how he would go out, then so be it.

Maybe he was just bad ore, like Howard had always hinted with his reminders of what a Stark was. Maybe it would better for him to be gone, removed like an impurity during smelting. Maybe this was just his destiny, just as fate had decreed.

"Well, I hope you didn't hurt Greg," Tony quipped before leaning his head back against the marble base. "He's only in the middle of the book he's reading, and nothing sucks more than going into the great yonder with that hanging over ya."

Nothing happened for a long moment. Tony blinked at the stars that he could still see. Slowly, he lowered his gaze again. The man was closer now, not hidden in shadows. A black muzzle like thing covered the bottom of his face. Tony was fairly certain that it had a simple rebreather in it, maybe just a filter system. Either way, the man's eyes burned above them, for all the world looking like he was trying to feel every emotion possible at once. Tony could sympathize with that, because he often felt like he was going to combust with everything he was trying to feel. Not right now, though. Right now, he just felt numb, like the cold around him had sunk into the core of him.

"I'm not trying to tell ya how to do your job or anything," Tony said, "but maybe move things along a bit? It's really just a saying that looks can kill."

The man stalked closer. Tony licked his lips unconsciously. Damn if the guy didn't have a murder strut to beat all murder struts. Seriously, if the guy wasn't about to kill him, Tony would totally proposition him just because of that efficient walk. Then the guy flipped a knife out of somewhere—Tony was watching him the entire time and still wasn't certain where it had come from—and Tony couldn't stop the whine of want even as said knife was pressed against his throat. Unfortunately, Tony's mouth began to run away as his brain went off on several tangents.

"Okay, maybe I was wrong, because damn, that was hot. Don't judge me, Rambo, but you're playing to my competency kink."

Tony tilted his head back as the blade pressed just a tiny bit harder against his neck. He panted against the pressure, not daring to swallow. His would-be assassin growled at him as if frustrated by something. Only then did Tony realize that the man was straddling his legs, just a few inches more and Tony would be able to grind up against him. Those few inches might as well have been a mile because Tony couldn't move with cutting himself. Tony groaned again.

"Look, either fuck me or go ahead and put me out of my misery. Death by sexual frustration shouldn't be a thing, but darling, you're pushing me close here."

His assassin reached up with a hand that glinted in the starlight and removed the rebreather muzzle thing. Tony's mouth went dry at the reveal of his very kissable lips. Tony had kissed a lot of people through his years at MIT, and he had slept with far more despite Rhodey's interference (his platypus had an issue with the age difference between him and the other students). The point was, Tony could reasonable consider himself an expert on kissable lips, and this guy definitely had very kissable lips. Like, his lips could definitely qualify for the kissing Olympics, if there were such a thing, which there should be.

The assassin pressed a (metal!) finger against Tony's lips, stopping the flood of thoughts that had been spilling from them. Impishly, Tony flicked his tongue against the finger. The man's eyes dilated farther than what should have been required even in the dimness of the cemetery. Impulsive as ever, Tony did it again, earning a little growl of frustration from the man.

"You talk a lot," the man told him without any inflection, just like how Tony got sometimes when he was tired. Tony grinned at the irony. Rhodey's favorite saying was that Tony was going to talk himself into an early grave, and here he was, in a cemetery with a knife pressed against his throat while he flirted with the man sent to kill him. Seriously, it was like the setup to a bad fanfic, one of the ones that always ended with Kirk giving into Spock's _pon farr_. "Do you ever stop?"

"Only when I'm dead, Rambo," Tony quipped. "Care to share a little death with me?"

"I cannot kill you," Rambo said, a trace of confusion leaking into his voice. While his arousal didn't really fade, Tony had the growing urge to cuddle the man to match it. This show better get on the road, before Tony ended up planning something that would make Rhodey yell at him, like bringing home an assassin like one would a lost cat. Rambo's expression looked lost enough that it should totally fit. "I can't. I don't know why, but I cannot comply with orders. I am malfunctioning."

"That's okay, sugarsnap." Working off an instinct that he didn't know he had, Tony reached up slowly and pushed the blade away. The assassin looked even more confused as he let it happen. "I'm something like a mechanic. Come back to my workshop, and we'll see about fixing ya. Maybe it's not even a malfunction. Maybe it's just that you're tired of being a murder-kitten. Maybe you just want to be a kitten for a while."

"I…" The man blinked as if he was having trouble processing the idea. He appeared to be examining Tony for any trace of manipulation, which was fair. Even Tony couldn't always tell any more when he was doing it, because both Maria and Howard, as well as Ana and Jarvis, had made sure that he would always know how to get what he needed out of a situation. "I am willing to submit to maintenance. May I make a request?"

"Anything," Tony answered, a bit surprised at the honesty he put into the word. He would give this man anything, despite having just met him under these less than stellar conditions.

"I would prefer if maintenance not include a full wipe," he whispered, as if ashamed of the request. "They hurt."

Tony had no fucking clue what a full wipe was, but everything in him threatened to revolt at the idea of deliberately doing it to the man. Oh, yeah, Rhodey was definitely going to yell, because there was no fucking way that Tony was letting his assassin go back to whoever the fuck had sent him. No one should ever be afraid to ask (ask! Not even demand but ask!) to not be hurt. Tony was definitely adopting a murder-kitten with a metal arm and astonishing knife handling skills.

"You are a confusing handler," the man told him. Tony smiled at him before giving him a sassy salute.

"Just wait until you get to know me. Then the real confusion sets in."


	2. Diana Ross is Not Available

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

**Author's Note:** Do you know how many ways that MCU could have used the skill sets they gave their Science Fam characters to have actually saved the day without major loss of life? Because I do. Unfortunately, the writers for the MCU do not appreciate the Intelligentsia they have at their disposal. So here's a little soulmate AU where the smartest character in the MCU actually uses that intelligence for something other than something to get shit on for.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Two Cakes!; No Punny Business; Click Bait It; Yellow Ribbon (Y); Yellow Ribbon Redux; Short Jog; Letter of the Day; Flags & Ribbons; Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); True Colours; Laws; Quiet Time; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Feeling So Logical []; Themes & Things A [Love] (Y); Themes & Things B [Protection] (Y); Marvelous Cinema; Team Logic; New Fandom Smell [MCU]; The First Phase; Tissue Warning; Shipmas; Seeds; Chilled Iron Bribery (Y); Misunderstood; Rainbow Focus; Hola, Bonjour, Jambo  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Assignment 02  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Romance Awareness [R14] (Soulmates Stuck Together) (Risk-Taking); Insane Prompt Challenge [918] (Realistic); 365 [35] (Notorious); Scavenger Hunt [90] (Write about a Muggle or Squib); Galleon Club ("Helpless" from _Hamilton_)  
**Space Address (Prompt): **Su Bingo [1B] (Liberty/Freedom)**  
Representation(s):** Tony Stark/Loki  
**Bonus Challenges: **Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Second Verse (Trickster's Union; Lovely Coconuts; For the Vine; Lock & Key; Car in a Tutu; Unwanted Advice; Middle Name; Zucchini Bread; Sneeze Weasel; Persistence Still); Chorus (Wind Beneath; Creature Feature; Bast's Blessing; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Eternal Boredom; Tomorrow's Shade; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Wabi Sabi)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** HoSE (Schooner; Sanctuary); O3 (Orator; Ox); FR (Evolution); T3 (Toad); SN (Rail)  
**Word Count:** 1887

(^^)  
**Diana Ross Is Not Available**  
(^^)

Tony was tired as he staggered towards Stark Tower. Being tossed around an engine turbine was unsurprisingly _bad_ for his suit. Who knew that SHIELD would be the one to do what even several combats with actual terrorists using his own weapons couldn't manage? JARVIS informed him that the Arc Reactor was now offline, which should have been the end of it, but the portal device had apparently already become self-sustaining, even if it was still powering up to open the portal.

Selvig was still firmly in Loki's control, although how much of what he was spouting was because of that and how much was just the good doctor's normal instability. After all, Selvig had a bit of reputation among anyone working in Astrophysics and Astronomy, and from the few interactions that Tony had had with him, that reputation was well deserved. The man was more than a bit of a mad scientist. Honestly, being involved with alien invasions was just par for the course.

And all of the craziness of the last week was beginning to catch up Tony. He wasn't even certain when the last time he had slept was, because it had been a bit manic leading up to the disconnect of the tower. Facing Loki by himself without the suit was the same level of stupid that had just gotten Agent killed, but it looked like that was Tony's only path forward. Maybe he could still find a way to cut this wire, but there was a good possibility that he wasn't going to be walking away from this. Tony closed his eyes as he headed for the landing, trying to block out the sense of inevitability that was wrapping around like a shroud.

"Sir, the Mark VII is not ready for deployment," JARVIS warned him, sounding even more worried than he had in those last few weeks of Tony's palladium poisoning. That hurt even worse than knowing he was facing a possible imminent death. Once again, JARVIS was being forced to watch Tony kill himself. What kind of fucked up father was he that kept doing this?

"Then skip the spinning rims," Tony snapped, hoping to cover up the knowledge they shared, "we're on the clock." Then he touched down at Stark Tower on the landing pad and began to move forward with all the steadiness of a man walking to the executioner. Immediately, the arms that he had painstakingly programmed began dismantling the damaged suit.

JARVIS would make certain to get it all down to the tower's workshop. He was good like that, always anticipating things that Tony may need or even just want. He was a better man than Tony could ever hope to be, and wasn't it sad that a collection of code put together by someone as flawed as him could be so great?

If Captain Spangles could understand that JARVIS was a person, he would probably see it as confirmation of everything he believed about Tony—which was based on footage of some sort, that if Tony lived through what was coming, he really needed to remember to ask about. There were too many things that he could have watched to narrow it down. It could have been anything—though Tony was willing to bet that it was probably the Senate hearing where they tried to steal the Iron Man suit that was the clincher. Spangles seemed the type to think masturbation was a sin worst than murder.

Just as Tony had expected from JARVIS' sitrep, Loki was standing by the balcony doors watching Selvig work. None of the other agents working for Loki remained on site. According the sitrep, Loki had sent them to secure a perimeter around the tower of several block. JARVIS had already secured the designs for the devices they appear to be setting up as they worked their ways out. On every residential and obviously noncombatant occupied building, they placed a force field generating device against a wall. JARVIS' estimation had the strength high enough to withstand a detonation of an arc reactor.

It was surprisingly kind for an invading dictator.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki announced as Tony entered the penthouse. Tony stumbled a bit as he was pulled from his thoughts. Something on Loki's face looked… _off_. Honestly, the god looked as exhausted as Tony felt. Several theories spun around each other in Tony's head as he began pouring drinks autopilot.

"Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Tony said, still observing things. Loki rolled his eyes as if Tony was being an idiot, which was, you know, _fair_.

"You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, well, it's seen a bit of mileage." Tony focused on the staff in Loki's hand as he took a sip of the glass in his hand. "You've got the blue stick of destiny."

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no! _Threatening_," Tony corrected, earning another eye roll.

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that." Loki looked way too tired for that to be a gloat. "What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony quipped. He forced a grin on his face, like he was actually competent that they would actually get their act together enough to legitimately be a threat. If nothing else, Tony could buy them time to get in place. After Tony was gone, maybe JARVIS would get the necessary information to Rogers and his merry band of misfits. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them," Loki commented, sounding amused by the memory.

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one." Tony gave a negligent shrug as he moved around the bar. "But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod—" Oh, boy, did Loki bristle at that reminder. Something told Tony that there was probably more to that _he's adopted_ comment of Thor's than trying to distance himself from a notorious sibling. "—a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend—" Not really true, but Tony could spin it like it was if he was given enough time. "—a man with _breathtaking_ anger management issues—" And a brain to die for, but Tony couldn't afford to be horny right now. "—a couple of master assassins—" Meh, close enough, and it wasn't like it really mattered if they were just SHIELD standard issue combat assets, because they really needed all hands on deck right now. "—and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan," Loki replied, and this time Tony knew he was imagining the exhaustion on his face. Something in him wanted to reach out and comfort the Asgardian, to just bundle him off to bed to sleep for a week. That was a decidedly odd feeling to have about a megalomaniac while in the middle of staving off an alien invasion caused by said megalomaniac. Tony's brain was still spinning out scenarios faster than he could consciously keep up with, but the memory of that SHIELD profile that called him a textbook narcissist despite not having any of the textbook criteria twirled before him.

"Not a great plan," Tony countered, distracted by possibilities. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"Oh, will they?" Loki asked. His blue eyes glittered as he prowled closer to Tony. "But not you? How curious: you listed everyone except yourself. Not quite the narcissist they painted you as, are you? Did you know that Barton would talk about their plans for you, how they planned to use what they had already stolen from you to further their plans while they strung you along for more resources? It doesn't have to be that way."

"You're missing the point," Tony interrupted. It had already taken most of the last eighteen months to clean up the mess that Rushmanoff had left in the wake of her little infiltration. Tony wouldn't have put it past the murderous spider to have picked up some propriety toys along the way. If he lived, he needed to have JARVIS check everything again. But that was for later, if he got a later. "There's no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes—if it really is your army, because generals don't lead armies from the field—"

He cut himself off as he caught up with himself. Everything clicked into place like it had just been waiting for him to run his mouth into it. His eyes widened as they met Loki's eyes—Loki's _blue eyes_. It was not just any blue either. It was the same blue as Barton's, as Selvig's. Everything about Loki started to add up to something other than stress megalomaniac trying to take over the world. The gaunt cheeks, the stiff walk, hell, even the exhaustion—What did it take to break a god? What did it take to magically overcome the _god of magic_?

"You're not in charge," Tony said as he closed the distance with the Asgardian. "You're as much a pawn as the agents you took. You're not the puppeteer. You're the scapegoat."

"Shut up," Loki bit out through clenched teeth. He pointed the staff at him threatening. "Be silent if you know what's good for you."

"That didn't work when I was six, and I'll be damned if it's going to work now that I'm an adult." Tony pointed with the index finger of the hand still holding his drink. "You have some explaining to do, Mr. Horny Helm, but let's start with what you need from me to break loose. I hear that all the cool kids have a brainwash story these days."

"Just stop," Loki commanded. He looked close to either pulling his hair out or having a panic attack. Tony couldn't decide which. Unfortunately, he also couldn't stop his mouth from running.

"Is it in the name of love?" Tony asked. "Or is it hammer time?"

With a sudden movement, Loki grabbed Tony by the throat. The hold was surprisingly supportive despite its suddenness, like Loki instinctively knew his strength relative to Tony's fragile neck and was just as instinctively compensating so that Tony's neck didn't just break. There was still a fissure of something that passed between them. It felt a lot like the arc reactor was experiencing a flux of power, despite its upgrades. Strangely, the blue in Loki's eyes flickered before another fissure passed between them. Then Loki was staring at him with eyes the color of the macha that Pepper liked to use for her tea when she had the time and inclination to make it herself.

'_Soulmates_,' whispered something deep in Tony's mind. Well, wasn't the next day or so going to be _fun_? Especially if they can't actually stop the invasion from happening, even with Loki freed. Nothing like being stuck to another person to create a disadvantage in a fight. Even still, Tony couldn't stop his mouth from running. Maybe Rhodey was right about Tony talking himself into being murdered.

"So in the name of love, then?"


	3. In the Eyes

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Beyond that, it's only canon typical warnings. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** Head's up, there are a lot of references to the MCU Tie-In comics (which ARE canon for the MCU), which include information that is not favorable towards certain individuals and organizations. If you feel the need to comment about that, you go ahead and keep that to yourself.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 13); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Old Blue Eyes; True Colours; Bonjour-Hi; Chilled MCU Bribery (Y); Magical MC; SHIELD MC (x3); Criminal MC; Military MC (x4); Neurodivgergent; Rowl in Her Grave; Rian-Russo Inversion (x2); Ethnic & Present; Laws; Ship Sails; Zed Era; New Fandom Smell; Marvelous Cinema; Gwen's MCU Checklist [War Zucchinis]; Short Jog (Y); Bucket Listing; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift (Y)  
**House:** Slytherin  
**Assignment No.:** Term 13 – Assignment 02  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [958](In the Eyes); 365 [32](Blatant); Herbology Club [3-8](Retrouvailles); Auction [4-3](James Rhodes); Ferragosto [02](Character older than 60yrs)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **Su Bingo [3D](Explosion); AU [5A](God/dess); Hunt [Sp Set](Sea/Ocean); Chim [Limu](Sharing); Ship (War Zucchinis)[SuMed2](Shouting/Yelling); Fire [Hard](Cutlasses); Garden [Avengers](James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine**)  
Representation(s):** Rhodey/Tony QPR; Rhodeses & Starks; Natasha Romanoff  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Surprise!; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Zucchini Bread; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Car in a Tutu; Lovely Coconuts; Trickster's Union); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terrarium); SN (Rail; Negate); FR (Satisfaction; Liberation); O3 (Orator; Ox); War (Monomania; Orator; Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui)  
**Word Count:** 3136

(^^)  
**In the Eyes**  
(^^)

James Rhodes knew that he was pushing the limits of the suit. Tony had updated the repulsors to allow for speeds up through Mach 3, but he had cautioned against doing sustained flight at that speed in the suit. James might only be an astrophysicist, and not a billionaire genius with multiple doctorates, but he was an experienced enough pilot and engineer to know that the inertia dampeners would need replacing when he got to New York.

If he got there.

Things got a little shaky over St. Louis.

James had just pushed it a little harder.

Tony had called for help, and James had blown him off. Well, not exactly, because he had been under fire from that damn robotic menace at the time and literally had to finish the fight or leave allies as well as innocents in harm's way. Tony had still called for help, and James had still told him that he wasn't immediately headed his way. Tones might have said that he had understood, but James would never be able to forgive himself if something had happened to the idiot.

He had been late too many times already.

Please let him not be too late this time.

Please. Just let him not be too late.

JARVIS got into War Machine's systems right as James hit the Tri-State Area. Tony's genius had always been a thing of wonder for James, but hearing how frantic JARVIS was about not being able to confirm any readings of his creator just made that awe burn brighter. James talked his nephew off the proverbial ledge while circling the thankfully contained battle zone.

He only contacted the swarm of first responders long enough to order all of the debris be treated as bio-hazards of the greatest contagion levels. The army grunts arriving on site hadn't wanted to listen to him initially, because the army never did get anyone who actually knew how to fucking think, but James had not risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by letting some enlisted man get delusions of grandeur.

Jesus fuck, it shouldn't even have been a fight.

It was _alien tech_ and _alien bodies_. Who knew what kind of germs they had? There was no telling what their version of the common cold might do to humans. Had everyone fucking forgotten _War of the World_ and _V_? Intergalactic germs were nothing to fuck around with.

When he found the stupid genius, James was going to pin him to fucking couch and they were going to binge on pizza and old sci-fi until James didn't want to shoot idiots.

And it would be a _when_, because James wouldn't accept anything else.

Tony had better be alive or James swore to God and Physics that he would figure out time travel just to punch Howard Stark.

He would have punched Tony, but as he had discovered while Tony was dying (_secretly_, like a fucking putz), punching Tony was nearly as satisfying as one might imagine. Damn idiot tended to act like he actually deserved it now matter how much he didn't.

And _that_ more than anything was why James wanted to invent time travel in order to punch Howard.

…and if he happened to take Tony home to his momma a bit earlier, then it would be between him and God, wouldn't it?

Though Tony did say that he wasn't helping James break the universe just to punch his dad, no matter how much he agreed (at least out loud) that Howard deserved to be punched.

That was alright.

JARVIS would help him.

James buzzed the tower as he circled Midtown. His heart skipped a few beats at the sight of the missing window to the penthouse. On the next fly-by, he slowed and landed gingerly in the space. The main power was out, but the auxilary lighting was up. That should be enough to open the emergency panel to punch in his code to reboot the system.

He froze on his way to where the panel would be.

Tony's living room had a crater in the middle of it.

And that crater had a man in it.

_God damn it, Tony_.

James stomped over to the panel, pried it open, and punched in the code needed to get JARVIS back up and running within the building. Then he stomped over to the lanky figure crumpled in the middle of a crater that looked like it had been made by repeatedly slamming in against the floor.

The man was dressed in a combination of leather and metal armor that would have been at home in ancient times. The quality alone would have placed him as wealthy and possibly nobility, but what really tipped the scales was the amount of decorative detailing on it all. Whoever the man was, he was clearly high level nobility, likely even royalty.

James circled around him, pondering what he should do.

If he should do anything at all.

"Hey, you back with me yet, J?" James asked. If anyone would be able to fill in the gaps in the five hours it had been since Tony's call, it would be JARVIS. The CI might even be able to connect him with Tony who was currently still MIA.

Damn genius had better still be in the city.

Damn genius had better still be _alive_.

"My connection to the tower has indeed been restored, Colonel Rhodes," JARVIS answered immediately. "I have also taken the liberty of beginning preparations for another complete system checked in order to locate the manual override point SHIELD has implanted. These repeated instances of trespassing are beyond forgivable at this point. Sir's security cannot be allowed to be compromised again."

"…repeated instances?" James questioned, frowning as a muscle in his cheek twitched with the protect rage surging through him. He thought that he and Fury had come to an understanding after the second time SHIELD had dared to _kidnap_ Tony. SHIELD may had thought they were helping both times, but their attempts at conscripting Tony had been both blatant and heavy-handed.

James was going to have to teach Fury who was the one with all the cards here.

"Agent Coulson arrived approximately forty-five hours ago to request Sir's assistance recovering certain artifacts that had been stolen by the alien currently recovering in the floor before you. Agent Coulson was quite dismissive of the necessity of Sir's help in the project, even as he insisted the importance of the mission." JARVIS paused. "In fact, it would be factually accurate to conclude that Sir was critical not only to overall mission success but to success at each stage. My analysis suggests that only two of the current accepted members are actually capable of fulfilling the stated reason for the Avengers Initiative. Sir is not listed as a team member, despite the efficiency burden he carried throughout."

"First off, you're sounding a bit bitter there, kiddo," James replied. "Second off, _that's an alien_?"

"While his outward appearance does resemble baseline human, he is of extraterrestrial origin, yes. While Prince Thor referred to him several times in a fraternal way, I believe the mild assertion that Prince Loki was adopted may explain some of the less obvious genetic differences I have uncovered. Of primary importance for the next few moments is that his healing metabolic rate is a great deal better than what has been demonstrated by Prince Thor."

"He's about to wake up, isn't he?"

"He's about to awaken, yes," JARVIS confirmed right as the man in the crater groaned and began to shift his limbs. "He does still have multiple severe fractures in his spine and a greenstick break in the ulna of his left arm."

"Damn it," James said as he moved forward as quickly as possible to press the man still again. "I know you're out of it, but you've got to stop moving, sir. You're injured. You're healing it—JARVIS, what's the ratio we're looking at?"

"Something on par with what is standard for feral mutants," JARVIS answered dutifully. "Colonel, there is a discrepancy in Prince Loki's biometric signature. It is the same discrepancy found within Dr. Selvig and Agent Barton's biometric signature after Agent Romanoff applied, ah, _cognitive recalibration_ to remove the influence of the specter."

"Great, just great," James groused, shifting his hold on Loki to keep him supine. "The guy who killed eighty-something people and led an alien invasion resulting in that mess out there was just as mind-controlled as his minions. Do we have any idea who the puppeteer really was?"

"What does it even matter?" Loki asked from beneath James' hand. He sounded as exhausted as Tony had after fighting Stane and then getting kidnapped by SHIELD. "No one can stop him."

"See, that's where you're wrong," James argued. "If I know my idiot, he's already got six plans bouncing around in his head, and just needs more intel to go forward. Tones doesn't lose, if only out of sheer spite."

"Stark?" Loki scoffed at the idea, but James got the feeling it wasn't the same way that people normally did at the idea of Tony having the solution to something or really, being anything but the flash and glitz of his press mask. "The man threatened me with the offer of a drink and then accused me of performance issues!"

"Yeah, that sounds like Tones," James agreed. He glanced at the missing window. "Is that what happened to the window?"

"Throwing him out of it seemed like the reasonable thing to do at the time."

"JARVIS?"

"Sir did have a mild concussion from the incident but was otherwise unharmed. His vitals were strong until I lost contact with the Iron Man armor." There was a marked pause. "Sir has entered the lobby along with Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, Mr. Rogers, Prince Thor, and Dr. Banner. Sir has minor injuries and in need of substance, but he is otherwise in acceptable health." A crackle of static came through the intercom system. "Judging on body language and conversation, Sir plans on offering them living space in the tower."

"Oh, hell, no," James objected automatically. Loki watched with curious green eyes like James' horror was mildly amusing. "Ain't no way I'm letting anyone working for SHIELD live with Tones. Damn assholes have been trying to get him under their thumb since they crawled out of the muck of Afghanistan. Romanoff thinks nothing of drugging and manipulating someone if it furthers her agenda, and I can't see Barton being much better. Unless that _Mr. Rogers_ has a television show and a series of admittedly really cool cardigans, he can be someone else's fucking neighbor. Banner can stay, if for no other reason than it will piss off Ross and that will please Tony." He frowned at Loki thoughtfully. "I don't know about Thor."

"He's a hotheaded buffoon," Loki supplied, "and sees nothing wrong with that. He was going to start a war after we had successfully brokered a truce because someone called him 'princess'."

"Right, so another machismo jerk," James snapped. "I don't care if he's a prince or whatever. He's not getting his hooks into Tony." James eyed the supine man again, finding far too many similarities to Tony for his peace of mind. He heaved a sigh. "God damn it all to hell."

The elevator doors opened and Tony practically flew out of it (without his armor, like a goddamn idiot). The genius immediately crossed the space to the pair in the center of the crater. The others following along at a more sedate pace. The huge green man that must have been Dr. Banner (Tony tended to wax poetical about how the physicist had managed to break the laws of physics) hung back near the elevator.

"Honeybear," he said as he ran his hands over the armor as if trying to find an injury. "What the hell did you do to my baby to get here from Hong Kong already?"

"Hello to you, too, man," James greeted dryly. He could feel the sudden tension running through Loki even through the gauntlet. "_My_ armor is just fine, thank you. Maybe the dampeners are a bit fried, but nothing that can't wait."

"SHIELD is on their way to take Loki into custody," Romanoff said, taking the opportunity to sidle closer. James glared at her venomously enough that she froze before reaching them. Keeping his eyes on the untrustworthy spider, he directed his words more towards Tony than anyone else.

"Loki isn't going anywhere," he ordered in his sharpest officer voice. The blond man dressed like a cheap knockoff of Captain America straightened his back in the same way that enlisted always did. Strangely, so did the Hulk. "He's especially isn't going anywhere with the likes of SHIELD."

"Colonel Rhodes," Romanoff began only to stop when James gestures sharply for her to do so.

"Don't you dare speak another word," he ordered. Tony was looking between him, Loki, and the group of would-be superheroes. James had no doubt which side he would back if it came down to it. Careful to keep line of sight on the SHIELD agents, James shifted his gaze to make eye contact with Tony. "Loki stays."

Tony gave a sharp nod to show that he understood James' position, even if he didn't understand the reasons behind it.

"Colonel Rhodes?" asked another blond man, this one wearing armor of a similar style as Loki. He carried a medium-sized war hammer decorated with Norse runes and filigree. Going along with the naming theme, James figured this must be _Thor_. "You should know that my brother led the invasion against your world."

"Barton there participated, too," James snapped. The archer winced before bristling. "And Selvig helped as well. You cannot exempt someone from the same excuse you're using to protect others."

"My brother is not well," Thor continued. "He is also known to twist the truth to suit his narrative better. Whatever he may have told you—"

"I'm gonna stop you there, Point Break," Tony interrupted as he plopped down on one of the couches surrounding the crater like he didn't have a care in the world. From somewhere, he had pulled out one of his stashed baggies of dried fruit. The mylar crinkled loudly in the tense silence. "Rhodey doesn't do things willy-nilly, and you assuming he could be taken in by Reindeer Games there is just embarrassing to all of us." Tony leveled a blank look at Thor. "You know what I've noticed about you, Thor? You don't want anyone even suggesting that Loki is crazy, but it's one of the first things you reach for when you're trying to explain his behavior. Which tells me that this entire scheme isn't exactly normal for Loki-poo."

"Loki has always been a trickster," Thor said carefully, like he was struggling with a concept that was just out of reach. He frowned at his brother. "This has not been up to his usual standards, however. The strategy is foolhardy and reckless."

"Desperate?" Tony asked nonchalantly. He gestured to one of JARVIS' input cameras. A holographic image of Loki appeared where they all had a clear view of it. James felt himself stiffen as he took in the visible evidence of at least three different advanced interrogation methods. "Correct me if I'm wrong—though I don't think I am—but that doesn't look like a side effect of mind control. Unless Bird Boy is hiding things? No?"

"Loki didn't have any of that in Germany," Romanoff pointed out. Tony held out a hand to stop her there.

"JARVIS, what's your verdict?"

"Prince Loki has an accelerated healing rate that is on par with the mutant known as the Wolverine. The twenty-two hours between his arrival at the PEGASUS compound and his appearance in Germany would have been sufficient for him to recover physically."

"Thanks, baby boy," Tony said as he stood up to circle around the hologram of Loki. Then he looked down at James and Loki. He gave another sharp nod and turned back to the others. "As a final tidbit for those playing the home game, I would like you all to look at this image and tell me what color eyes our would-be emperor has."

"I don't see why that matters, but they're blue," snapped the idiot wearing the Captain America costume. (James did have to admit that he looked an awful lot like the Captain America in the old news reels and propaganda films. It was a bit uncanny, really.) Romanoff and Barton nodded their agreement. Thor, however, looked at them confused.

"My brother's eyes are green."

"No, Loki's eyes are blue," Barton insisted angrily. He gestured towards the image still hanging in the air. "You can see it right there plain as day!"

"My brother's eyes are green," Thor insisted in return. He examined the image closely though, even reaching out as if it was actually his brother in need of comfort. "He was not well when he fell from the Bifrost… when he let himself fall into the Great Void, we had thought him perished. I am ashamed now to say that we did not seek to confirm that." His pale blue eyes were filled with regret and shame when he met James' gaze. "You must understand that such a death is considered incredibly shameful. To even attempt it would be a great dishonor upon an entire House."

"Well, then it's a very good thing that Loki is staying put, isn't it?" Tony asked rhetorically. James gave Loki what he hoped was a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Tony gave the SHIELD agents a shark-like grin that seemed to unnerve them both. "So who wants to tell ol' Saint Nick the good news?"

"So fucking not it," Barton announced immediately. For good measure, he touched his finger to his nose. Still green and larger than life, Dr. Banner mirrored the motion. Romanoff sighed as if the world had ceased to make sense just to annoy her, but she touched her finger to her nose as well. Rogers just looked confused at what they were all doing.

"I do not understand whatever reference this is," he admitted. He sounded as much resigned to that as he did frustrated by it. "I'm assuming that I am expected to be the one who tells the Director that Stark is absconding with our invader?"

"Well, we could always just play dumb about it," Tony suggested with an ever-widening grin. "We could put glasses on him and call him our cousin Sven from Sweden."

"We're not doing that," Romanoff objected.

"I don't know," James said blandly. "He does look just like me. We could be brothers. Can't you see the family resemblance?"

Tony was the only one who laughed.

_Rude_.


	4. The Lies We Tell

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. This piece also references canon abuse, canon traumas, and canon bigotry (even if it is not called out or acknowledged in any way by canon). This fic is also _Not Friendly towards Jemma Simmons_. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** I would like to remind all my readers that if you dislike my interpretation of canon, that you would save us both a lot of time & emotional spoons by just exiting the fic without bothering to leave a review or comment. If you do not like anything about my fics, then it just proves that this is not meant for you and you are more than welcome to leave without wasting both of our times by leaving a review or comment. TL;DR version: _Don't like? Don't read._

_**THIS FIC CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES FINALE OF AGENTS OF SHIELD WHICH AIRED LESS THAN A WEEK AGO.**_

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 13); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Cry Power; Writing with Music; Metahuman MC; SHIELD MC (x2); Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion (x2); Disabled; Small Fry; Ship Sails; Shipwreck; Future Era; New Fandom Smell; Marvelous Cinema; Short Jog; Bucket Listing; Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift  
**House:** Slytherin  
**Assignment No.:** Term 13 – Assignment 03  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [932](The Lies We Tell); 365 [175](Kettle); Herbology Club [4-2](Disability AU); Auction [11-2]("Take Me or Leave Me" - RENT); Back to School Shopping [Books](Intelligent); Tell a Joke Day [05](A Character with Blond Hair)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **Su Bingo [4A](Sickle/Scythe); AU [4B](Space); Hunt [Sp Items](Kettle); Chim [Kinzie]("Human" by Rag'n'Bone Man; Hurt/Comfort); Ship (n/a)[Sp Big](Ceramic Mug); Fire [Hard](Adventure Writer); Garden [Plant Types](Married)**  
Representation(s):** Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons; Still Acknowledges Fitz's multiple disabilities; Actually acknowledges Simmons' attitude  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Muck & Slime; Abandoned Ship; Surprise!; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; White Dress; Found Family; Sneeze Weasel; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Nightingale; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts); Chorus (Endless Wonder; Pear-Shaped; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Fire Song; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Unicorn)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Tether); SN (Rail; Spare); FR (Gestation); O3 (Orator; Oust); TY (Enfant)  
**Word Count:** 2258

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**The Lies We Tell  
**(^^)  
"Take me for what I am, who I was meant to be … Guess I'm leavin'."  
– _Rent_, "Take Me or Leave Me"  
(^^)

Alya was four when Leo figured it out, just shortly after the reunion holo-call with the rest of the team that had been as much a family to him as the little unit he was building in England.

He had suspected it for a while, of course. Even as brilliant as any child of his and Jemma was, Alya had managed to get into places that she shouldn't have been able to—places that he had made very certain had fail safes and other safety features specifically for keeping young genius daughters out lest they get hurt. He had seen so many possible futures that featured similar impacts from the circumstances of Alya's gestation and birth.

She had been conceived before Jemma had been sent through time with the others. Then there was the Reality Monolith, and the repeated jaunts through space and other planets. The Shrike put off their own kind of radiation which the Module was never designed to keep out completely. Messing with temporal and dimensional travel left traces that rippled from the quantum tunnels necessary.

Honestly, the fact that Alya was the _only_ member of their little family to end up with an active X Gene was more surprising than the activation of Alya's mutation.

After all, it wasn't as if the Fitz family line was perfectly clean when it came to such things. He might not have an Inhuman gene, but he knew of a cousin or two on his mother's side of the family who had mutations. His father had been rather vocal about what a mutant's purpose was in the world, as he had been on enough topics that even if he were alive, Leo would never trust him around any child.

Never mind that Alya was, undeniably and utterly, his _everything_, no matter what quirks of genetics she had.

It was still a bit of a nasty shock to watch his daughter who had only just started learning how to swim teleport past the wrought fence that surrounded the in-ground pool. Not even his various adventures since Jemma had convinced him to pursue fieldwork had made the fear shoot through him as much as it had in the moments it had taken to unlock the gate and get in there with her. He couldn't imagine how he would have felt if he had not seen her do it and had only came upon her after some accident had befallen her.

Of course, Alya didn't understand why her Papa was hugging her so tightly and reluctant to let her loose. She was only four. She didn't think of it as a brush with danger. She saw it as Papa thwarting her attempt at fun and then refusing to let her go while he stroked her pale blond hair.

For the chance at playing in Papa's lab, she gladly let him take a small sample of her blood. His lab at their cottage may not be as sophisticated as what he had had to work with prior to their retirement from SHIELD, but it was more than adequate for the gene sequencing program to run while he helped Alya design and build a small robotic cat. He would have to write the programming for it to do more than obey limited commands from the remote, but his girl already had a phenomenal grasp of the mechanical end. Maybe he should see if there were any good books on engineering appropriate for younger children.

The sequencing only confirmed what Leo already knew.

Alya was a mutant.

Leo waited until Alya had been put to bed for the night before broaching the subject with Jemma. His stomach was unaccountably upset as he watched Jemma put on a kettle for their evening cup of tea. She was chattering about how things were going at the small family clinic where she had been picking up hours for an excuse to get out of the house and talk to other adults while she went through the relaxing ritual of preparing tea.

"—had to call the local Sentinel office, of course," Jemma was saying when his mind decided to start listening to the details instead of letting the flow of his wife's voice flow over him. Whatever was souring his stomach turned to ice.

"Wha-wha-what do-do-do you mean?" Leo asked. He mentally cursed the sudden return of his stutter as he clutched at the edge of the island's counter.. He took a deep breath to calm himself. He had control of the aphasia if he only concentrated on it. He didn't even know why it was flaring up now when it only tended to do so when he was upset or panicking.

There was no reason to be nervous or scared. It was just him and Jemma.

"Well, the boy was a mutant, wasn't he?" Jemma explained as she pulled out the blend of jasmine, chamomile, and lavender that they used for this cuppa and began to fill their tea balls with it. Leo watched as she gave that little shrug she always did when some fact was obvious to her. It used to annoy Daisy to no end. "He had given his cousin second degree electrical burns just from them wrestling over a frisbee. He's clearly dangerous."

"May-may-maybe it was an ack-ack-accident," he suggested. His throat felt tight. He closed his eyes and forced himself to count a few breaths to lessen the pounding in his chest and head. After seven breaths. he forced himself to continue. "He could-could-could learn to con-con-control it."

"He would still be dangerous," she said as she put the tea tin back and pulled out two ceramic mugs. She carefully looped the chain of each tea ball around the handle before dropping the ball itself into the mug. Pouring the heated water into each mug, she continued. "The Sentinels will make sure he gets either training or the treatment."

"And then they'll be watching him for the rest of his life," Leo argued, just thankful that he managed to get it out in one go even if it was by practically shouting the words. Jemma gave him a puzzled look. "And their training is dependent on agreeing to work for them!"

"And what's wrong with that?" Jemma demanded to know. "It is the same thing that SHIELD did before the whole mess with Hydra, and then after Inhumans began popping up everywhere. At least we're a _little_ more civilized than the Americans. We don't have to rely on ankle bracelets and collars."

"Because tagging their ear is so much further removed from treating them like animals instead of people with bloody rights." Leo's stomach heaved, threatening to turn itself inside out. All he could see in his mind suddenly was his sweet little girl with one of those suppression buds through the upper helix of her ear. "God, I'm going to be sick."

He shoved away from the island and stumbled out of the kitchen. He barely made it to the bathroom down the hallway before he lost control over his stomach. Every time he thought he might be done, his traitorous mind would bring up yet another memory of Jemma casually condoning the anti-metahuman sentiment that ran rampant through SHIELD even after Hydra had been purged from its ranks.

Leo had always told himself that she didn't mean what she said to be taken the way it sounded or that she wasn't _wrong_ so much as _unaware_ that there was more to consider. Even before he had considered attempting to date her, he had been making excuses for her. He hadn't wanted to think about the way she would phrase something the same way that his father always had, making him all twisted up inside with the conflicting urges to get away and make up whatever disappointment he must have created in her.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Jemma asked at the doorway. Leo groaned and pressed his forehead against the rim of toilet. His nervous stomach was an absolute pain. "I just knew that milk was a bit off. Your stomach is just more sensitive than mine or Alya's. Do you think you can keep down some of the tea? The chamomile should help calm your stomach."

He nodded weakly. She came in just to run her fingers over his short hair before leaving again to finish preparing the tea. His legs were shaky as he pushed himself to his feet, but they held as he flushed away the sick and moved to the sink. Leo washed his hands before switching the water to a cooler mix that was better for splashing his face. On impulse, he also brushed his teeth before checking the status of the travel kits of toiletries.

Raising his blue eyes to his reflection, Leo knew that the numbness overlaying things was disassociation. The emotions still churned beneath the surface. They weren't gone. Eventually, the disassociation would fade, and the pain that went along with the decision that he knew he was making—that he had been in the process of making since he had seen his daughter teleporting the same way that a bunny hopped or a fledgling flew—would seep in like England's damp through a coat.

Leo had known Jemma since they had attended SHIELD's Science & Technology Academy together. He had known how she had felt about metahumans for all that time. He knew how often she changed her mind once she made it up and to what extent when she did.

Even with the metahumans on the team, she had been… markedly cautious. Daisy and Elena were considered _exceptions_ in Jemma's opinion about Inhumans, not evidence that those opinions might be flawed. Friendship with them, no matter how deep and loyal, had never changed her belief that metahumans on the whole were enemies in the making. It had never stopped Jemma from making comments, sometimes even in front of them.

Daisy and Elena had always elected to ignore it. There was always been someone with more volatile prejudices to be dealt with. People like the ACTU, Glen Talbot, and Thaddeus Ross were more important to handle than a friend whose low empathy was sometimes a bit condescending and patronizing. Besides, they were adults capable of reasoning away any lingering bruises from the casual racism.

No matter how precocious, Alya was a child. Her intelligence would actually make her more vulnerable that damage, as she was more likely to pick up both on her difference from other people and how it connected to the group her mother viewed in such a way. Alya would end up in the same conflicting tug of war between the thoughts of being the exception and waiting for the moment when that wouldn't be true that Leo had spent so much of his life fighting.

No matter what he had with Jemma—something precious that they had defied all of infinity to finally capture—his priority would always be Alya. His daughter was his Everything, the star that was the center of his universe. The choice between his happiness and her safety would always be simple.

The shielding numbness of the disassociation still helped. It got him through the nighttime routine without Jemma acting like anything was off. It got him through the hour it took for him to be certain that Jemma was deeply enough asleep that he could safely rise from their shared bed without waking her. It got him through pulling his still-packed go bag and the smaller one they had created for Alya (because old habits from their time with SHIELD had yet to fade) from the front hall closet. It got him through taking both bags to the car that they had bought specifically for him to use if he needed to take Alya anywhere while Jemma was gone to the clinic.

His hand only shook a tiny bit when he penned a simple note letting Jemma know that they were gone for good and not to look for them.

Alya did not wake up as Leo picked her and her crocheted octopus up from her bed. Instead of buckling her into her car seat which would force her to either wake or sleep in an uncomfortable position, he laid her down on the backseat covered in her favorite blanket. Faintly aware of the final moments ticking down now, he rushed back into the little cottage to gather up a few of Alya's favorite toys and books. He stowed the bag in the boot with their go bags.

Then Leo was driving north towards the research facility that he had heard about from his old contacts. Scuttlebutt claimed that the MacTaggert family would welcome any metahuman needing sanctuary to stay on Muir Island, and they wouldn't ask too many questions about why.

That was exactly what he and Alya would need, at least for the foreseeable future.

It probably would not be for very long, just long enough for him to figure out how to balance things out so that he could reconcile the two loves of his life.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he knew it had been just as much of a futile hope as any of the other lies he had told himself over the years.

Leo did not let himself think too hard about that, wrapping the comforting disassociation around his already aching heart.


	5. A Cut Strand

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** placeholder

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 13); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Zed Era; New Fandom Smell; Marvelous Cinema; In a Flash; Bucket Listing  
**House:** Slytherin  
**Assignment No.:** Term 13 – Assignment  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [596](Acceptance); 365 [04](Accord); Herbology Club [3-4](Tidsoptimist); Auction [13-2](Stranded AU); Back to School Shopping [Uniform](Cold Weather);  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **AU [3B](Afterlife); Chim [Deke](Laughing); Fire [Hard](Adventure Tales); Garden [Word Song](Everything)**  
Representation(s):** Tony Stark & the Avengers  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Abandoned Ship; Rock of Ages  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse); SN (Rail); O3 (Oust); War (Sanctuary; Ennui)  
**Word Count:** 616

(^^)  
**A Cut Strand**  
(^^)

Tony was cold. He was the sort of cold now where he was actually started to feel warm again. He knew that was a bit not good. The squishier sciences weren't his strong suit, but he was at least eighty-seven percent sure that feeling warm without actually warming up was actually a sign of severe frostbite.

Which, you know, was a thing that tended to happen when one was stranded in a drafty enemy base that had hopefully been completely abandoned. Though judging by the fact that there had been five super soldiers stashed on ice here, it was probably only mostly abandoned.

With the way Tony's luck was going the last few days, it was even odds on whether he was going to freeze to death right where _Captain America_ had left him or if Hydra would pop up one of their very ugly heads to bite him in the ass.

If that happened, the best case scenario was that they would kill him. Even if they did it slowly, it would be better than being turned into one of their operative, nothing more than puppet dancing to their tune. Tesla's balls, the things that Hydra was able to do with just knock-offs of his tech was worrisome. If they could get him to _create for them_, there would be no stopping them.

Tony let out a bitter and exhausted laugh at the idea of it. Captain America who had always stood as the symbol of the fight against Hydra may have just handed them the very thing they had always craved. Of course, it wasn't like Steve hadn't already be riding a rather fine line. He had accepted Wanda without even batting an eye, despite her lack of remorse for working with first Hydra and then Ultron.

Lying there as he slowly froze to death—or maybe the internal injuries would get him first; it wasn't like he could really categorize what injuries had sustained—it had become abundantly clear to him where exactly he had gone wrong. He should have stuck to his initial guns, for one thing.

_Opportunities weren't given. They were created_.

Big talk for a man not twelve hours out from having told the whole world that he was Iron Man. He should have stayed by his lonesome, working under General Turner and making a nuisance of himself to terrorists and American military brass with questionable histories respecting human rights. He could have still saved the world but with at least a third less abuse and manipulation.

Even if he had had to join forces during the Invasion, he should have backed off when it became clear (which was immediately) that not one of the Avengers and no one at SHIELD wanted to actually do anything to prevent a recurrence. Considering how Thor had lit up Greenwich not a full year later, Tony had been right to think that there were going to be more.

Earth was vulnerable and no one seemed to care about that.

Hopefully, there would be someone out there who would care enough to step up.

Tony slumped in his dead armor. Vision and Peter were all that there was left, and they were both babies regardless of how powerful they were. Steve had taken off for parts unknown. Natasha had well. The rest of the Avengers had been arrested for breaking international laws, never mind anything about the numerous treaties they had broken before even touching on the Accords issue. When they arraigned on Monday, they was probably going to be held without bail, given the skill sets that most of them had.

He closed his eyes.

The Avengers were done.

And so was he.


	6. Just a Moment

**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

**Author's Note:** Just a quiet moment.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 13); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Magical MC; Disabled; Zed Era; New Fandom Smell; Bucket Listing; In a Flash  
**House:** Slytherin  
**Assignment No.:** Term 13 – Assignment 04  
**Subject (Task No.):** n/a  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane Prompt Challenge [601](Calm); 365 [278](Savage); Herbology Club [4-9](Soulmate Gone Wrong); Auction [19-3](Loki)  
**Other MC4A Challenges: **FaB [2B](Legacy); Set [3B](New York City); Hunt [Sp Con](French Silk Pie); Chim [Deke](Laughing); Ship (Frost Iron)[n/a](n/a); Fire [Hard](Genius); Garden [Plant Food](Sweet)**  
Representation(s):** Tony Stark/Loki  
**Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: **Casper's House; Turtle-Duck; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Car in a Tutu; Lock & Key; Grease Monkey; Most Human Bean; Rock of Ages); Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Fizzy Lemonade; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature)  
**Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse); SN (Rail); FR (Satisfaction); HoSE (Schooner; Sanctuary); TY (n/a)  
**Word Count:** 364

(^^)  
**Just a Moment**  
(^^)

Loki enjoyed moments like this the best.

He and Tony weren't doing anything, not really. They are just spread out on the large sectional in Tony's penthouse. The last bit of a French silk pie rested in the tin on the low table beside them. They had shared it. Tony had allowed Loki to feed him bites in between kisses. The genius did not often allow someone else to do something so intimate for him, so it was a real treat.

Loki knew it wasn't normal by any set of standards to set such a high appreciation on such a simple act. However, he was not accustomed to anyone trusting him. Quite the opposite, actually. He had always been the outsider among the Aenir. The revelation about his heritage had been less of a shock than it would have been if he had been as beloved and doted upon as Thor. None of the common folk could have known about it, of course, because if they had, Loki would have heard at least whispers about it. Covering up an adoption was far easier, especially in a culture with a large and thriving fostering system. It was not uncommon for a foster to stay permanently.

Then again, once the shock had worn off and the desperation to prove just as worthy as Odin's biological son had dissipated, Loki had gained the clarity of mind to realize that taking in a Jotun child and raising that child on stories about how his birth people were nothing more than savage monsters was a horribly cruel thing to do. His desire for death, even as dishonorable as it was and all the trouble it had caused, was less cruel to all involved. Even better, all that chaos had led him to this moment.

"This is nice," Tony whispered without raising his head.

"Worth rejecting a soulmate for?" Loki teased to cover up the fear. For Tony had rejected his soulmate, though it had not necessarily been for Loki. Tony had rejected the man years ago, and then had continued rejecting him.

"I have my very own god," Tony answered with a laugh. "How can Justin Hammer even compete?"


End file.
